Going the Distance

(It'll probably look like this in October, except twice as tired).

Hi kids. How's everyone doing? Well? I hope you're well.

Me, well...I'm training to run a marathon. Crazy talk, right? But I'm nothing if not crazy. I assume that's why you all follow my ramblings in this here space.

Anyway, I need your help. I realize it's a terrible time to ask anyone for money...but I'm going to do it anyway. Y'all stepped up big time and made me proud when Kim needed help raising money for the Alzheimer's Memory Walk last year so I'm calling on you again to help me out.

Here's the deal: I'm running the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, DC on October 25th to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association. Katherine (the lovely lady up there in red) will be running it with me for moral support (and possibly to drag my tired ass across the finish line). My personal goal is to raise $5,000 which works out to just over $190 per mile.

The Alzheimer's Association holds special meaning for me because my Memere, who was one of the most important people in my life, was diagnosed with the disease in 1998 and passed away in 2004. As I said in my fundraising email to family and friends:

Growing up, Memere was a constant figure in my life. She may have been 4-foot-eleven but she was the most fiercely independent women I know and set a wonderful example for everyone she met and cared for. I still miss her terribly and still notice her influence in many things I do. She taught me so much - how to love coffee ice cream and how to nurse a Whiskey Sour among them - but most of all, she was one of the warmest and most generous people around. So in that spirit, I run this marathon for her.

It's not easy divulging something so personal, especially to people who know me solely as the crazy girl who swears at Josh Beckett in print and pontificates on the spy-shenanigans of a one Mr. Mike Lowell, but this is important to me and it's very, very worthwhile.

My personal donation page can be found here. Or, if you'd rather send a check, email me at snowtackle (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll get you that information.

So if you can help, It'd mean the world to me. Regardless, thanks for your support. And thanks always for reading! You guys are the best readers a girl could ask for.

~Kristen